[247] inner harbor began on the night of August 27th, and proceeded regularly from this date forward. September 2d. Desultory fire on Fort Sumter. The sap approaches within 80 yards of Wagner. September 3d and 4th. Wagner under fire and returning it, assisted by Gregg and the James island guns. On the night of the 4th, Major Elliott relieved Colonel Rhett in command of Fort Sumter. Failure, same night, of the plan to assault Cummings point (Battery Gregg). September 5th. Slow fire from batteries and New Ironsides on Wagner. The assault on Battery Gregg, Cummings point, made and repulsed on the night of 5th. September 6th. Head of sap opposite the ditch (east) of Wagner.This was the last day of Wagner's defense, and the fifty-eighth day of the attack by land and sea. The sap had progressed on the sea face so far as to enable a large force to move on that flank and gain the rear of the fort, while the whole front was covered by the last parallel within 50 yards of the fort. The fire of the fleet and mortar fire from the trenches, with incessant fire along the parapet by the land batteries, made it fatal work for most of the fort's sharpshooters, and the gun detachments. The garrison of the fort at this memorable period was as follows: Col. Lawrence M. Keitt, commanding; Maj. H. Bryan, adjutant-general; Capt. Thomas M. Huguenin, First South Carolina infantry (artillery), chief of artillery; Capt. F. D. Lee and Lieut. R. M. Stiles, engineers; Lieut. Edmund Mazyck, ordnance officer. The artillery: Captain Kanapaux's company, Lafayette South Carolina artillery; Company A, First South Carolina infantry (artillery), Lieut. J. L. Wardlaw; Company A, Second South Carolina artillery, Capt. W. M. Hunter; Company E, Palmetto battalion artillery, Capt. J. D. Johnson. The infantry: Twenty-fifth South Carolina, Lieut.-Col. John G. Pressley; Twenty-seventh Georgia, Maj. James Gardner; Twenty-eighth Georgia, Capt. W. P. Crawford. The total for duty was less than 900 men and officers, infantry and artillery.
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Atlanta, Ga. 1899.
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